Recording Custom Shape Actions in Photoshop Tutorial

How to record custom shapes actions in Photoshop / tool recording for the vector designs tutorial for CC 2017 2015 CS6 etc

Basics of recording custom shapes actions

How to start recording Photoshop custom shapes actions??

This is for many versions of Photoshop such as creative cloud CC 2017 2015 CS6 etc

The key thing is to display the actions panel and then go to the right side menu and select the 'allow tool recording'. Once this is done, the tool's actions are recorded though sadly not always in the way you would expect. If you use the current selected preset, the shape's name is recorded along with the position etc

Recording Photoshop actions

As with normal action, click on the new action button on the action's panel and then apply the tool as required.

The postion, the type, the color etc are recorded and then on finishing, click the stop recording.

Changing the shape used in the Photoshop action

The Photoshop action records the name and if a path is called 'Heart 1' then it will use 'heart 1' each and every time the action is run. Luckily the action doesn't actually record the points of the vector path, only the name. So you can just change any path to 'heart 1' and then that will be used in the same position, same type and color. I would suggest changing the action to a name such as 'X' and then record a vector with the same name. You can then, at any time, rename any other to X and run with a different vector artwork. One thing you should note is that the dimensions of the artwork is recorded so if you use a thin artwork in the Photoshop action then the replacement will also end up thin (even if they are wider than the original designs). If you want to create a similar look then the replacement path should be approx the same dimensions as the original.

The example above shows the C design (previous image) replaced with an 'E'. The 'E' path now uses the same name as the previous 'C' design (which has been removed or renamed to avoid any confusion). Or color letters below from the preset panel. It does make it whole lot easier if you name the item something unique instead of searching for a 'letters 1242' etc in a selection of 1500 vectors (it is a pity that the app does not allow for the movement of an artwork in the panel so you can add the items to the top of the panel for easy changing of the name)